Cardinal Dantius Landsholt
Titles: Protector of the Eastern March Seat of Power: Clove Arch-Diocese: Hazeroth Sub-Sector A staunch ally of Ignato, Dantius Landsholt is keen to see the Sector Synod remain stable and focused on the core hive worlds and trade routes. Raised up from the Landsholt noble house of Clove, Dantius’ siblings include the Clovian planetary governor Tesnius, the world’s High Tithe Master Arlatius, and its Chief of Arbitration and Enforcement Helatius. Ignato was happy to ignore the nepotism and power monopoly of the Landsholts in electing one of their own as cardinal in exchange for the continued support of the Clovian Synod and by extension the Hazeroth Arch-Diocese. Unfortunately Dantius is a poor cardinal at best, and his unflagging loyalty seems to be the only thing Ignato can rely upon him for. During Dantius’ time in office, the power of the Ministorum over the worlds of the Hazeroth-sub has waned, numerous splinter cults have taken hold on dozens of worlds, and power has slipped away from the Sector Synod and back into the hands of planetary governors and their own pet Ministorum officials. Most alarmingly, however, is the spread of the influence and power of the Adeptus Mechanicus. From their forge worlds of Synford and Idumea, the followers of the Machine God have usurped the cardinal’s influence on many of the sector’s principal hive worlds such as Guytoga, Samson IV and Gunpoint. Only the tight-knit nature of the Landsholt nobility has prevented such an occurrence on Clove. While ostensibly this does little harm to the Imperium or the Imperial Creed (the Administratum especially has benefited from the increased trade and flow of manufactured goods as a result of its labyrinthine tax laws), it does mark a shift in the favor of planetary governors and Administratum officials away from the control of the Sector Synod, a matter which is always of great importance to the Ministorum. Perhaps the greatest of Dantius’ failings, however, even more serious than the diminishing influence of the Ministorum in his sub-sector, is the messy situation known as the Heresy of the Seven Silences. Under his very nose, Dantius allowed a subversive cult to take up residence on the cemetery world of Pilgrim's Pause and began converting the righteous. It was not until the Cult of the Seven Silences began to spread toward the core worlds along the pilgrimage routes that he was forced into action by an outraged Sector Synod. Even after numerous bloody purges, some members of the Seven Silences still remain alive and hidden within the Calixis Sector, a situation that could have been avoided had Dantius identified the cult and acted sooner. Kregory uses this fact to discredit any input to the Synod from Dantius and to keep him largely out of Synod politics. Despite all of these failings, however, Ignato has protected Dantius from the ire of the rest of the Synod and supported the Cardinal for fear of losing yet another ally to Kregory at such a delicate time for the Calixian Ministorum’s unity.